


Word Play

by ChiaRoseKuro



Series: SINning is Winning [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Humor, Inappropriate Humor, M/M, Multi, Slice of Life, That's literally all this is, There aren't enough SIN fics out there, a fic about Scrabble
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-08-22 18:06:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8295100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChiaRoseKuro/pseuds/ChiaRoseKuro
Summary: It's everyone's day off in the Uzumaki-Uchiha household, and Naruto's determined to get Sasuke and Itachi to loosen up a little. What better way to do it than with a nice, relaxing game of Scrabble? (Answer: literally anything, apparently)( alternately, everyone argues, nobody plays properly and the author had too much fun simulating their game )





	1. Warming Up

**Author's Note:**

> ...Of all the fics I had in mind (for posting up first on AO3), a fluffy domestic SIN fic was _not_ one of them, but most best-laid plans are thwarted and this, I suppose, is just one example of that. For anyone who isn't comfortable with incest, homosexuality, polyamory and pretty much everything that comes with Itachi, Sasuke and Naruto being fluffy (and stupid) in a fic, then please press your 'back' button. I wrote this to be self-indulgent and avoid my responsibilities, so I'm not looking to cop any flak for this. For those of you who want to see snarky boys, interesting new words and SIN being grown-up children, though... you've come to the right place!
> 
> The tags currently state that this fic is for Teenagers and Up; that will probably change when I move on from innuendos and mild swearing to mild (or explicit, I'm really not sure yet) sex scenes. Just a heads-up for anyone who might not want to see these three do the dirty, in any case!
> 
> Special thanks to KizuKatana's [fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6537610) for making me plunge head-first into this OT3 and [this prompt](http://imagineyourot3.tumblr.com/post/151046577022/imagine-your-ot-playing-scrabble-together-who) for serving as inspiration.  
> Words in **bold** are words played in the Scrabble game; bracketed seven-letter chains are the character's racks.

* * *

 

“Okay, look at it this way,” Naruto says, even as he tugs a little more insistently on Sasuke’s hand and glares harder at Itachi’s cool look. “You’re both smart, you’ll both know more words than me– so why the hell do you two sorry bastards have a problem with this?”

“It’s because it’s a _game_ , obviously.” It’s a measure of how long they’ve been together that Naruto can _feel_ Sasuke’s eyes rolling at him while sarcasm liberally coats his words, and the fact that Itachi’s smirking only makes him growl harder. Hearing the unvoiced sentiment that they were both adults who didn’t need to participate in word games, of all things, to boost their egos didn’t help, either.

“But you have nothing to _do_ , duckbutt– and Itachi, you’re just staring out of a window!” Naruto whines.

“ _Anything_ I do is infinitely better than playing Scrabble,” Sasuke scoffs in response.

“And who says there isn’t anything interesting residing outside?” Itachi smoothly adds.

Had Naruto not possessed an insanely high tolerance for bastards– _Uchiha_ bastards, at that, and why he’d ever consented to being together with _two_ of the sorry lot _still_ eludes him– he would’ve screamed at their equally smug faces. However, being around them for far too long had allowed him to realize very early on that impetuous anger would only serve to amuse them further, so he settles with a sigh and a very filthy glare at the pair. Judging from their perfectly arched eyebrows, though, it still does nothing to ease their amusement.

At least Itachi looks a little less smug… or it might be his mind playing tricks on him.

“God, you’re both _jerks_ ,” Naruto grouses loudly, and storms off to the living room to play his games by himself.

It was rare to find the three at home together, and Naruto had been counting on making it a day for relaxation and fun, bonding that didn’t involve bondage of some sort or rough, almost animalistic, displays of their lust for one another. If Itachi wasn’t busy managing his family’s law firm or taking on some sort of high-profile criminal case, Sasuke was negotiating deals or pulling long hours at his own business, or Naruto was off to his art studio or any of the art galleries hosting his works. For three men with wildly successful lives, a day off was a hard-earned luxury.

For three men with wildly successful lives and a general need to interact with people on a daily basis, it was often amazing to see how _terribly_ they interacted with each other. Had Naruto not witnessed the lengths to which first Sasuke and then Itachi had attempted to woo him all those years ago, he would’ve thought he was their pet.

 _Or entertainment unit_ , Naruto distastefully adds, settling into the couch with a grumble and drawing the travel-sized Scrabble board onto his lap. Honestly, the effort he’d used to try and draw them into the game just weren’t worth it if they weren’t interested; enough people have called the brothers ‘stubborn rocks’ and ruder alternatives for that message to sink in.

Still, it doesn’t stop Naruto from shaking the bag of tiles with a little less enthusiasm than usual or wipe the faint pout from his face as he digs around for his first seven to fill his rack.

It also doesn’t stop two pairs of black eyes from observing him through the doorway, either.

 

* * *

 

Naruto’s been staring at his rack for the better part of five minutes when Sasuke eventually wanders up behind him. It’s… weirdly endearing to see his face scrunched up, eyes squinting determinedly at the rack clutched tightly in one hand while the other curls around the board, and the younger Uchiha can’t help the soft snort that escapes his nose as he rests his elbows on the back of the couch. He’d say something about bursting a blood vessel were it not immediately obvious that Naruto was doing his best to come up with a good starter.

His eyes roam over the unappealing letters and studiously ignore Itachi, who might’ve been able to fool him in his perusal of his work emails if he hadn’t caught his eyes flickering oddly every few seconds, before he finally leans forward and blows softly into his boyfriend’s ear.

Had Sasuke not almost gotten an elbow to the face, he might’ve been amused by Naruto’s panic.

Still, there’s definitely a hint of a smirk on Sasuke’s face when Naruto whips his head around, blue eyes narrowing dangerously when they catch sight of his unrestrained amusement. He isn’t left disappointed when a tan finger almost pokes his eyes out when it waves in his face, even as its owner spits out a furious, “How many times do I have to tell you _not to sneak up on me_?!”

“Not enough,” Sasuke smugly replies, and summarily gets the pleasure of seeing Naruto’s angry flush spread to his ears and down his neck.

“ _Fuck_ you, bastard,” is the hissed response Sasuke gets. It doesn’t deter him from leaning forward to look at his Scrabble rack in more detail, but it does make Naruto snap the cover over it, continuing to glare defiantly up at him until he sighs and circles around to plop down beside him.

Even though Naruto is still shooting him angry looks and doesn’t look like he’s lifting the cover on his rack anytime soon, Sasuke’s seen enough of it to remember the letters there. The un-alphabetized jumble swims in his head, mind automatically arranging it into a neater arrangement of **[ AAESTVX ]** to satisfy his usual preferences– not that anyone would probably remember, considering that he hadn’t even met Naruto when he last played this game– and he sighs again, carding a hand through his hair. Something must’ve shown on his face, though, because the blond soon moves to uncover his rack and goes back to staring at it, teeth worrying at his lower lip as his brows furrow again, and the urge to smooth it out crosses his mind.

Before he can act on it, though, Naruto quietly murmurs, “the best word I can think of is ‘stave’.”

“…But you want to use that double letter for your ‘v’ or ‘x’,” Sasuke adds just as softly, nudging Naruto’s hand so he can look at the tiles a little better. He doesn’t notice the slight surprise directed at him, but he does feel the bite of blunt nails when they dig into his hand, dragging him away from the tile he was just about to pick out.

“Hey, you can’t just play for me!” Naruto’s glare, still pathetic in the face of his and Itachi’s own, returns in full force as he growls at Sasuke again. “Besides, I thought you said you said you didn’t want to play– or was your ‘anything’ too boring for you?”

“Tch, I just don’t want to clean your brains off the couch,” Sasuke scoffs back, revelling in the rush of colour flooding back into Naruto’s cheeks. Talking to Itachi was– and always will be– an exercise in frustration, but with Naruto it’s all unreasonable anger and flushed faces, often with amusing and mildly entertaining results, and this time is no different.

“Though if you don’t want my help…”

Sasuke almost laughs aloud when Naruto’s eyes instantly brighten, lower lip jutting out in his patented pout that makes him look more like he’s got a bee sting than the kicked puppy look he’s aiming for, but years spent with him hasn’t translated to an increased tolerance for his idiocy. Completely aware of the smile that’s tugging on the corners of his mouth, he leans forward and taps the letters he needs, before drawing out the five letters he needs and slotting them into place on the board– without interruption, this time.

When Naruto looks down at the word, his brow furrows again.

“ **Vesta** is a word, if that’s what’s bothering you,” a new voice drily utters, and Sasuke turns to find Itachi staring down at the board with three mugs in his hand. He grabs his own and Naruto’s– coffee devoid of milk and sugar for him, and hot chocolate with marshmallows for the blond– and sets them onto the table as his older brother takes a seat on Naruto’s other side, drawing a book out from beneath his arm while he takes a delicate sip of his own coffee.

“So… does anyone want to tell me what it _means_?” Naruto eventually huffs, when neither Sasuke nor Itachi are forthcoming with the answer. Before Sasuke can come to his rescue and inform him of what it means, though, his older brother’s slender fingers tap against his book– a Scrabble dictionary, from the looks of it, though he’d never realized that they’d owned one until then. Considering that Sasuke didn’t know Naruto had bought a travel version of Scrabble to begin with, though…

“It’s a short wooden or wax match,” Itachi says, cutting across Sasuke’s thoughts. “Though I suppose you could read that yourself, Naruto.”

“Why, thanks for noticing I have eyes.” Sasuke can’t help the soft snort that leaves his nose when Naruto rolls his eyes, sarcasm dripping liberally from his tone, but all Itachi does is smile slightly. He supposes it’s come from years spent around two men who live and breathe it, but sometimes it still takes him by surprise when Naruto uses it– though some things will never change, if the rack being pressed insistently into his free hand is anything to go by.

“Moron, I _told_ you, I don’t want to play,” Sasuke protests, even as he shoves Naruto’s hand away and ends up with an empty rack in his instead. To his displeasure, Itachi simply accepts his without so much as a word, though the resigned look in his eye softens his feelings somewhat.

“But playing by myself is _boring_!” Naruto’s oblivious to the way Sasuke and Itachi are looking between their racks and each other, neither making a move to draw their tiles, but he simply rummages in the bag for more tiles as he adds, “And you can’t say you’re not interested; you helped me with that last word.”

“He does have a point there, little brother,” Itachi butts in, and Sasuke levels a glare at him. It’s just unfortunate that he alone sees the light smirk pulling on his older brother’s lips when he takes a sip of his own bitter coffee brew, though Naruto’s not going to complain either way.

Only a fool wouldn’t be able to see Naruto’s excitement at drawing them into the game.

Sasuke takes the time to share one last glance with Itachi before he sighs, rolls his long-suffering eyes upwards, and reaches for the bag of tiles. It’s probably petty to do so, considering that he’d seen his older brother reach for it first, but…

“At least I won’t come last, _dead last_.”

“Hey!” Naruto yells back, but the blinding smile stretching across his face ruins the mood he was going for. In the corner of Sasuke’s eye, he sees Itachi’s smirk soften into a smile, and it takes all his willpower to keep his face from following suit, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tentative estimates will place this fic at around 10k (I have a double-sided page of notes on the game, and that's not including the sex scenes) and four chapters. Don't hold me to it, though; I'm notoriously bad at estimating things, and the last time I wrote a 10k fic, it exploded into 150k (and counting).
> 
> To catch up on any extras (such as images and records of the game), updates (like progress reports, if you'd like) and other things unrelated to this fic, visit my writing blog [here](http://theeternalinsomniac.tumblr.com/).


	2. All Heated Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm probably going to toss that modest 10k/4-chapter estimate out the window... because I can't seem to cut any of the rounds out so far, they're obviously not going to play when they're boning each other and I'm too wordy for my own good. I promise this won't be over 10 chapters long but... all bets are off in terms of everything else. Except I might be able to hazard an estimate of less than 30k words. We'll see.
> 
> The rating was changed because the boys' innuendos make an appearance here- but the smut will appear later. For now, have fun watching them all argue and (start) playing dirty with one another~

* * *

 

Itachi has always been told that he is a prodigy, so much so that nobody disputes his intellect whenever he puts it to good use anymore. Once, it would’ve bothered him to know that people expected him to top the grade and win all his court cases– the frequency at which he’d pulled all-nighters to maintain that image still leaves him unable to sleep some nights, resigned to listening for Sasuke’s soft huffs and Naruto’s incoherent sleep-talk to break the monotony– but now…

Now, as he creates words neither Sasuke nor Naruto had ever heard of before, Itachi can’t help but think about how handy his self-image is– especially since one of said words didn’t exist. Not that either of them needs to know, of course, since they’re so adorably determined to glare at each other instead of focusing on his turn.

“Take that _back_ , bastard!” Naruto growls for the fifth or sixth time– Itachi’s honestly not bothered counting, though, not when he can’t help himself from smirking at the **idiot** lying on the board. It’s probably more luck than anything else which allowed Sasuke to draw those particular tiles, but his younger brother’s been known to cheat before, which is definitely coming back to bite him in the arse.

Itachi, on the other hand, is far more skilled at cheating– or people are more inclined to believe him, despite the necessity of lying in his profession. He’s certainly not complaining, though, especially if it means he can pull ahead of his two bickering boyfriends.

“It’s not like it’s directed at you, moron, or are you finally admitting to being an idiot?” Sasuke snidely asks, completely unaware of Itachi’s train of thought. Judging from the way Naruto squawks in offence and proceeds to swat at his best-friend-slash-boyfriend’s arm, _he_ doesn’t seem to notice either.

So Itachi decides to butt in with a smooth, “So does that mean either of you would be ‘daddy’, then?”

Which, thankfully, has the desired effect of breaking up Sasuke’s and Naruto’s spat, while also focusing their attention on the Scrabble board. It takes more willpower than Itachi first anticipated to keep from laughing, especially when Naruto’s mouth unconsciously falls open at the **daddy** sitting smugly beneath Sasuke’s **idiot**.

“If anyone’s the daddy then it’d be _you_ , Itach’,” Sasuke snarls, eyes narrowing as Itachi effortlessly moves into first place. “You’re the one who’s older.”

“By four years, little brother– or are you trying to insinuate that I fathered a child at the age of three?”

Sasuke’s disgusted coughing fit and Naruto’s loud choking– which isn’t surprisingly, considering that he’s in the habit of eating his marshmallows with his mouthfuls of hot chocolate– mask Itachi’s snort of amusement. Judging from the equally filthy looks he gets from the both of them, though, it seems as though he didn’t hide it quite as well as he imagined… but no matter. The way his younger brother can’t quite meet his eyes and the bright flush on the blond’s cheek is good enough for him.

“Okay, fine; Itachi’s played, so you can’t take that **idiot** back anyhow,” Naruto grumbles, ears still tinted red– though whether that’s from his near-death experience or embarrassment is a little hard for Itachi to determine. Sasuke, on the other hand, has no such compunctions about glaring at the new word proudly displayed on the board.

“Tch, like I’d take it back; it was the highest score I could’ve gotten,” Sasuke says, eyes never straying from Itachi’s word on the board.

In the strange silence that follows, Itachi begins counting to ten in his head. In between eight and nine, after Naruto swallowed another mouthful of marshmallows and hot chocolate, Sasuke gives another loud cluck of his tongue and turns to glare at his older brother.

“…It was the highest score I could’ve gotten,” Itachi echoes, voice carefully neutral in the face of Sasuke’s poorly-hidden irritation.

“Oh, so fucking up the board _wasn’t_ for your own entertainment?” Sasuke flatly asks.

It takes more effort than Itachi initially thought to conceal his smile– though, judging from the way his younger brother’s eyes narrow further, he’s doing a poor job of it. It’s not surprising when the only two people who could ever read him like an open book are in the same room as him, but sometimes it can be slightly inconvenient.

“Are you seriously asking him that?” This time, Itachi can’t help smirking at the sheer disbelief in Naruto’s voice, but it falls flat when the blond adds, “He’s basically the devil; not even his refined exterior can hide that.”

“Besides,” Itachi adds, smoothly inserting himself into the conversation before his boyfriends can go on a tangent, “it was the perfect opportunity to use my three D’s.”

The pointed and wholly unamused looks he gets about five seconds later only serve to widen his smirk.

There’s an entirely deliberate eye-roll from Sasuke and Naruto’s flush has spread to his cheeks, by this time, so Itachi’s not surprised to see the blond pointedly fish for something, _anything_ , to tamp down his embarrassment. It’s this assiduous search that causes Naruto’s brows to furrow at the words on the board, gears visibly creaking and groaning in his head from the intensity of his thoughts.

“Hey, what does **tia** mean?” Naruto finally asks

“Is that a challenge, Naruto?” Itachi parries.

He’s not entirely sure if either of them can hear his heartbeat speeding up, but… it’s best not to take any chances. Itachi’s hands, steady to all eyes but his own, seek out his mug, and he occupies himself with taking a sip while Sasuke’s eyes snap to Naruto’s faintly puzzled face.

“You’ll lose a turn if your challenge’s wrong, moron,” Sasuke says.

“But I’m just _asking_ him what it means!” Naruto snaps back.

“I’ll answer if you challenge me,” Itachi murmurs, gaze locking with Naruto’s increasingly unnerved one as he sets his cup back on the table. “It’s not like you have anything to lose, Naruto, and you’ll learn a new word while you’re at it.”

Itachi’s hands do not shake as he sips from his mug again, but there’s definitely something shaky that passes between Sasuke’s and Naruto’s shared glance. This time, he only needs to count to three before he hears a resigned sigh.

“…Yeah, I think I’ll pass.”

Had he been Sasuke, Itachi’s almost certain that Naruto would’ve called him on his bluff; his younger brother has always shared a more antagonistic relationship with him, nothing like the warmth that mostly characterises his interactions with Naruto, and he would’ve most certainly provoked their most hot-tempered link with unsubtle goads. It’s not in his interest to make Naruto call him on his bluff, not when he’s certain that the word’s not in the dictionary, but the way in which the blond honed in the one word he’s uncertain of…

For all that Sasuke calls him a moron, dead last and idiot, Itachi’s inclined to believe the opposite at times. Even if it’s not conventional intelligence in the way he can remember just about every law to ever exist or in the way Sasuke always manages to negotiate the best business transactions for himself, it’s definitely something.

Itachi’s eyes sweep to Sasuke before he can lose himself in his thoughts, but Sasuke’s already turning away, grabbing the Scrabble bag and passing it to him with ill grace. Although both his younger brother and Naruto look less than thrilled when Itachi totals up his score and effortlessly surpasses them, neither of them speak up in protest again.

When Itachi places his mug down to replace his tiles, his hands do not shake.

The same cannot be said for his lips, which alternate between a smile and a smirk.

 

* * *

 

Amidst more arguments, mounting irritation and a shouting match that almost devolves into hot drinks being thrown across the room, Naruto’s ready to admit that things did not _quite_ go to plan. What had clearly started out as a relaxing activity had, in due time, morphed into a heated contest… but, considering that his opponents are men who delight in winning just about everything, he doesn’t think he could’ve expected any less of them.

It doesn’t mean he’s going to lie down and let them walk all over him, though.

Still, there’s precious little Naruto can do with his rack when he’s got high-scoring consonants and little in the way of vowels, which is why he chooses to keep things simple and continue branching across, rather than upwards. If Sasuke and Itachi are determined to shut the board down and reduce it to a Jenga contest, he’s going to make sure they _regret_ it. He may not be the fancy Uchiha bastards his boyfriends are, with their distinguished education and– as much as he loathes to admit it– superior intellects, but he’s the king of trivia nights at the local pub for a reason, and he’s going to _prove_ it to them.

As though he can sense his thoughts, Sasuke turns to him with a smirk and snidely asks, “You didn’t think this game through at all, did you?”

 “Oh _stuff_ it, Sasuke,” Naruto growls back, slamming his **axe** onto the board with far more strength than necessary. The flat look Itachi gives him does not make the loud clack of tiles any softer.

So okay, Scrabble isn’t the same as trivia night; it’s more like a chance for walking dictionaries to show off their skills and fill one’s vocabulary with words people will never use in everyday conversation. Valiantly attempting to ignore the smug look Sasuke gives him, Naruto rubs at the slight furrow in his brow and wonders whether he should throw in the towel and switch to Trivial Pursuit instead– but the mere thought of Sasuke (and Itachi, to a subtler extent) lauding his forfeit over him is entirely unacceptable. Still, he can’t help thinking about the expressions his boyfriends will make when they come across an Entertainment question.

Ignoring the loud snort with well-practiced ease– and completely unaware of Naruto’s divergent thought processes– Sasuke dances his way to the lead with a fancy-sounding **jive**. _As expected of the bastard with a superiority complex only beaten by the giant stick up his ass,_ Naruto can’t help thinking, and snorts again for good measure.

“Care to share with the rest of the class, Naruto?” Itachi smoothly asks, and Naruto finds himself snarling at the twin expressions of smugness and amusement on the brothers’ faces. The older Uchiha is bad enough by himself– but when Sasuke’s basking in his embarrassment at spacing out?

Yeah, throwing the rest of his hot chocolate is _really_ starting to look good, wasted cocoa powder and delicious half-melted marshmallows aside.

Thankfully– for the furniture, anyway– Itachi collects five tiles into his hand and goes about setting them onto the board. When he’s done slotting **virile** into place, though, Naruto’s pretty sure he’s not imagining the vein pulsing dangerously on Sasuke’s forehead. It’s also taking him a lot of effort _not_ to think about the implications such words could have, but the smirk unfurling on Itachi’s face and the entirely unsubtle glances he’s casting them isn’t helping in the slightest.

Then Itachi adds a completely guileless “I hope you boys have enough energy to keep up with the _man_ in this game,” and Naruto feels his own vein pulsing.

“I never knew you thought of yourself as a paedophile, _big brother_ ,” Sasuke growls, and sloshes coffee over his coaster when he slams his mug down.

Had this been anyone else, Naruto would’ve expected red cheeks and a loud splutter; hell, _he_ would probably be doing just that if Sasuke had said something so unsavoury to him. True to form, though, Itachi simply shrugs and smirks at his little brother, otherwise-expressionless eyes hiding the dimmest spark, and he finds himself wondering– not for the first or last time– why he’d bothered getting together with two insufferable assholes.

Maybe he’d been some terrible demon in his past life or instigated world wars with his existence. Honestly, _nothing less_ could justify the increasingly unsubtle innuendos Itachi was slinging at them and the unholy glint growing steadily brighter in his eyes.

“Okay, look,” Naruto interjects, “what part of ‘fun and relaxing’ do you bastards have a problem with?”

“…All of it,” one or the other replies.

It’s hard to tell when they’re both giving him speaking looks that convey more of their sentiments and thoughts than words alone– which would probably be terrifying, if he dwelt on that thought for too long, but Naruto doesn’t and so it doesn’t. Still, it doesn’t stop him from casting Sasuke a filthy glare as the younger Uchiha stands to grab a tea-towel for the coffee pooling around his coaster, or shifting said glare to Itachi when he leisurely goes for the bag of tiles and replenishes his stock. It also doesn’t let him ease up on his burgeoning irritation when Sasuke takes his sweet, sweet time mopping up his mess and Itachi primly goes about rearranging his rack.

What it _does_ do is make Naruto more aware of Itachi’s lead, a solid 69 that rankles at Naruto more than it should. The fact that he could pull not one, but _two_ dirty jokes and _still_ get such a suggestive number is nothing short of infuriating, and by the time Sasuke’s done being a bastard… he’s probably noticed as well, if the return of his pulsing vein is anything to go by.

For a game that’s supposed to be fun and relaxing, Naruto’s found himself feeling the urge to yell more times than when he’s in his art studio. For a couple of words sitting innocently on a board, there’s a wealth of hidden meaning that’s making just about everyone– except Itachi, of course, but what else is new?– foam at the mouth.

If that’s how everyone wants to play it, though… Naruto bares his teeth in what a blind man might call a smile, aggressively flicks the blank off the board, and replaces it with his own tile.

_If that’s how everyone wants to play it, then **bring it on**._

(he’d just do ‘fun and relaxing’ another time)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Someone please stop me from drafting up a Trivial Pursuit sequel. It probably doesn't help that I also own a Trivial Pursuit game and I'm probably more than willing to simulate the game (by myself, while my family watches me play alone in bemusement, but that's another story).
> 
> To catch up on any extras (such as images and records of the game), updates (like progress reports, if you'd like) and other things unrelated to this fic, visit my writing blog [here](http://theeternalinsomniac.tumblr.com/).


	3. Seeing Double

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, there's no way I can squeeze this whole fic into 4 chapters; current estimates will place this at around 7-8 chapters, but you're better off not taking me at my word. Also, how did almost a third of a year pass without updates? I swear the next one won't take so long, if I can help it... but there's also a semester of university coming up soon so don't expect anything too soon.
> 
> Things are going to escalate a little here, so I hope everyone has fun reading the mounting tension~

* * *

 

“It’s not a word, you stupid moron.”

“It’s a word, you sorry bastard.”

“Is not.”

“Is so.”

“Is _not_.”

“Is—”

“Naruto, Sasuke,” Itachi interjects, “I could’ve sworn you were both adults– or are you attempting to prove that I’m a paedophile?”

Sasuke spends the next minute trying to clear coffee from his nose, but his embarrassment doesn’t measure up to Naruto’s– especially not when he spends twice as long choking on a marshmallow. Studiously ignoring Itachi, who will probably lose a few teeth if he keeps smirking like that, the younger Uchiha clenches one hand around his mug and uses the other to mop his face, dabbing as much coffee away as he can without losing more of his tattered dignity.

The source of Sasuke’s momentary misery is the **fus** sitting on the board, a word that Naruto had just spent all of five minutes working himself into a fit because, according to him, it was an accepted abbreviation. Apparently, it had something to do with onomatopoeia, which had then morphed into something to do with swearing, and even if Itachi’s expression hadn’t screamed _liar_ … yeah, it wasn’t the most believable thing in the world.

That, coupled with Naruto’s patented bullshit expression, was more than enough to make Sasuke erupt. Nothing good ever came out of saucer-wide eyes and the sort of broad smile one found in Stepford, especially not when it came with whiskered cheeks and messy golden locks.

Which is why Sasuke promises death to Itachi with a swift glance and growls to Naruto, “I’m _still_ calling your bluff, dead last.”

“You’re just stalling because your tiles are crap, asshole!” Naruto squawks back, but Sasuke’s ever-emotional boyfriend has never been much good at a poker face. Five seconds of a perfectly arched brow and his usual glare, and his boyfriend caves with a loudly grumbled, “ _Fine_ , I’ll search it up.”

Rather than making a cutting comment, which would invariably rile Naruto up but give Itachi more of an opportunity to embarrass him, Sasuke contents himself with a sip of his coffee. The dramatic changes in Naruto’s expression as he flicks through pages and re-flips them with greater aggression only serve to make his coffee taste all the better– and, judging from the glares being sent his way, Sasuke’s not the only one aware of his amusement. Still, it doesn’t stop him from calmly discussing Naruto’s word and its potential meaning with Itachi.

Sacrifices had to be made when one wanted Naruto angry and flustered.

Itachi had just suggested something that made Sasuke’s cheeks pink when Naruto finally slammed the dictionary on the table, narrowly missing his hot chocolate but giving a deformed marshmallow the boost it needed to flop out of his mug. In the momentary silence that follows, his eyes watch the sugary blob deflate with a sigh, smearing white and brown across a surface nobody cares for when there’s murder in blue eyes.

“I gather **fus** isn’t a word then?” Itachi asks.

The furious energy in Naruto’s fingers as he picks his tiles off is answer enough, but that doesn’t stop Sasuke from replying with a faintly amused, “Don’t be stupid, Itach’.”

“So what am I then, an idiot?” Naruto snaps, pegging a tile at Sasuke’s head.

“No, you’re a dead-last moron,” Sasuke smoothly replies, dodging the poorly-aimed projectile and watching it clatter to the ground.

Judging from the look on Naruto’s face, he’s not exactly happy at the news. Not that it was surprising, of course, which is something that Sasuke takes great pleasure in telling him… but one would believe, after years of being outdone by him, that his boyfriend would get used to losing.

It was, Sasuke wryly thinks, one of the things that made Naruto so infuriatingly– and maybe just a little endearingly– optimistic.

The sentiment becomes easily forgotten when Sasuke spots the glint in Naruto’s eyes, though; judging from past experiences, it never means anything good, and what he says next doesn’t disappoint. As optimistic as his boyfriend is, there is only so far one can push it before it becomes sheer recklessness– not that he _thinks_ it is, if his triumphant grin is anything to go by, but…

“An open-dictionary policy,” Itachi flatly utters.

Yeah, Sasuke’s not entirely impressed either.

“No, it’s a perfectly good idea!” Naruto yells, either unwilling or unable to reconcile Sasuke’s and his brother’s matching frowns. He’s tempted to bet the latter– his best friend may certainly be unwilling, but he’s also a stubborn idiot who’d rather prolong his suffering than back down– but Naruto plows on with a coaxing, “we can finish the game sooner if we don’t argue over words!”

“…Because you _clearly_ suggested this game to kill as little time as possible,” Sasuke quips dryly.

The highly offended snort Naruto gives as he stands, stomps around to the fallen tile and snatches it back up almost makes Sasuke’s smirk twitch into a grin. It’s only the thought that Itachi would pick up on it which stops him from doing so, but it doesn’t mean he’ll stop his _other_ activities so easily. Taking a measured sip from his mug, he lets Naruto fume for a few more seconds before he sets his drink down and arches a brow in his boyfriend’s direction.

A fit of uncomfortable fidgeting later, Naruto grumbles a petulant, “hey, it was worth a try…”

“Only if you’re with other children, I’m afraid,” Itachi responds, and Sasuke can’t quite muffle his snort as Naruto squawks angrily.

“Look, _just because_ none of you are any good at Trivial Pursuit—”

“Hence why we’re not playing it right now.”

“— _shut up, bastard—_ ”

“Language, Naruto.”

“— ** _you too, Itachi_** —”

“But this is just so much _fun_ , don’t you think?”

This time, a tile makes contact with Sasuke’s forehead– but only because Naruto lugged the entire bag at him. _Talk about a drama queen_ , he thinks dispassionately, while the unholy glint in Itachi’s eyes just gets brighter and more unholy.

As Naruto fumes, alternating between dirty glares and muttered expletives, Sasuke trades glances with Itachi and begins slotting his tiles into place. By the time all the tiles have been picked off the floor, the couch and his slippers, Itachi’s excused himself to refill his mug and a modest sixteen has been added to his score. It’s not enough to catch up to his older brother, for now, but that isn’t enough to dampen his good mood.

The same cannot be said for Naruto, whose face looks less tan than it looks red. Not even Itachi’s silent apology– if wiping the ottoman clean of hot chocolate and deformed marshmallows counts as such– restores his usual humour.

Nobody brings up the open-dictionary policy again.

 

* * *

 

From the looks Naruto and Sasuke are giving him, Itachi’s inclined to believe that his admission might not follow the same fate.

Said admission had come a few minutes after Naruto had set down his next word– a plaintive **why** that perfectly mirrored the helplessness on his face, when Sasuke had shoved Itachi into a headlock and attempted to keep him there. Having never seen the way he often fought with his younger brother when Naruto hadn’t been looking, it was likely a rather concerning sight to witness for a good minute. Sure, Itachi was confident that he’d be able to break out of his younger brother’s grip and give him a proper box on the ears when it was all said and done, but having his other boyfriend come to his rescue was… strangely sweet.

Now, with a pair of narrowed blue eyes staring accusingly at him, Itachi’s ready to take his leave again.

“So,” Naruto utters slowly, voice calm despite the storm brewing in his eyes, “not only did you lie by deflecting, you practically _used_ Sasuke and I to cover your sorry ass. Does that sum up what you just said, Itachi?”

There’s none of the happy-go-lucky jokester in the firm set of Naruto’s lips, nor is there sympathy to be found in Sasuke’s hard gaze. Itachi sips at his coffee with steadiness that he doesn’t quite possess and, if looks could kill, suspects that his mug would’ve been shattered into pieces by the intensity of his boyfriends’ glares.

“Stop dragging it out,” Sasuke snaps, and Itachi sighs before setting his mug down.

“Yes, that’s right,” Itachi eventually says, keeping his expression neutral as Sasuke’s and Naruto’s shut down entirely. “But every other word was perfectly legitimate—”

“Except for these two,” Naruto pointedly interrupts, tapping his **tia** and **oee** with a little more force than necessary.

“And look who harps on about fair play and being _nice_ ,” Sasuke hisses, spitting his words out like so many globules of poison. “I guess you’re just another stereotype of your profession, aren’t you?”

A few beats of silence, two loaded gazes burrowing into his skin, and Itachi gives way to a heavy sigh. Had someone told him that his younger brother would take the game seriously, enough to take actual offense at his actions during the game, he would’ve scoffed and wondered if pigs were going to fly next. Considering how competitive his younger brother was, though…

Itachi surreptitiously glances out the window, catches another warning growl and pretends his lips aren’t quivering with suppressed mirth. When he dies, he doesn’t want his autopsy stating the cause as a Scrabble game, of all things.

“Remember who kept Juugo out of prison, little brother,” Itachi says instead. His face stays decidedly neutral as Sasuke’s twitches a little, scowl slipping into something softer and more hesitant, but the attack gets taken up again.

“Yeah, and remember who said that I was better off playing with _children_ , Itachi.” The man in question arches a brow as Naruto jabs him in the ribs, but doesn’t move when his boyfriend adds a cold, “At least kids wouldn’t cheat so brazenly.”

Not even Sasuke’s play deters Naruto from glaring daggers into him, face so close to his that Itachi can almost taste the hot chocolate on his breath. He spares a moment to glance at his little brother’s word, eyes widening a little at the scant number of points he managed to rack up despite using a high-scoring letter, but another pointed jab to his ribs makes his eyes flicker back to unimpressed blue eyes.

“I hope you know how disappointed I am in you, Uchiha Itachi,” Naruto growls, slowly enunciating every word for Itachi’s benefit, “because if you do this again, I’ll _show_ you how disappointed I am.”

Surprisingly, Itachi feels a shudder race down his spine at the dark promise in Naruto’s words. It’s no secret that he’s the nicest of their trio and the one who both drags them out to socialize and keeps them in line once they’re there, but few have seen the cold ferocity he’s occasionally driven to. In his periphery, there’s a faint hint of interest in Sasuke’s dark eyes, and he can’t help the way his lips twitch at their reactions to Naruto’s frustration.

Thankfully for his hot-tempered boyfriend, though, Itachi controls himself in time to dutifully murmur, “Of course, Naruto. I’m terribly sorry for cheating and I won’t do it again.”

Naruto glares at him for a few long moments, before he huffs and leans back into his seat. Itachi can see the way Sasuke’s eyes narrow at his easy apology, but his glare subsides when a tan hand runs lightly along his thigh. With a faint smile on his face, he ignores the way Naruto’s eyes dart to him before he leans into Sasuke, whispering something into his ear and pressing a kiss against his cheek, and slots his tiles into place. If this is a ploy to make him jealous then it’s _not_ going to work on him.

Nevermind the way Itachi gets more amusement from Naruto’s swift descent into indignation.

Still, there’s nothing stopping Itachi from smirking at the way Naruto’s face flushes red again, even if the smack against his arm stings a little whenever he thinks about it too hard. There’s nothing stopping him from letting his smirk fade into a serene smile at Sasuke’s spluttered threat, either, and there’s certainly nothing stopping him from rearranging his features when Naruto excuses himself for the toilet and Sasuke leaves to refill his coffee.

It’s likely why Itachi looks at his rack, looks at the bag and reaches for it when he’s certain nobody’s nearby. After all, there’s nothing stopping him from switching his tiles.

Promises are promises… but what are those in the face of more mischief-making?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...And here we have the appearance of a cliffhanger, of sorts, mostly because I didn't want to throw that into the next chapter. On the bright side, at least things will be more amusing when the consequences for Itachi's actions are shown?
> 
> But enough of me waffling; updates, extras and other things related to the fic can now be found [here](http://chiarosekuro.tumblr.com/) because I've chosen to abandon my writing blog in favour of merging it with my main blog. Alternately, if you'd like to see the fic's writing progress, skip to [this link](http://chiarosekuro.tumblr.com/waffles) to find those.


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